| Admin/Biog History |
TAPLIN, Osman B. - Pvt., Company E, 2nd Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
Osman was born circa 1840 at Vermont. He resided at Oshkosh, Winnebago County when he enlisted there on Apr. 21, 1861. An unmarried lumberman, he stood over 5'8" tall with blue eyes, brown hair and a florid complexion. He was assigned as above and was wounded severely in the side at Antietam, Maryland on Sept. 17, 1862. Osman died of his wounds on Sept. 24, 1862.
Jane S. Taplin was the wife of Lowell G. Taplin. They were born in Vermont and married there circa 1840. The couple had two children: Osman B., born circa 1841 and Carrie L., born circa 1843. In 1860 the family was living in Oshkosh in the 1st Ward. Lowell was working as a carpenter. Her son Osman died from wounds received during the Civil War. She died September 4, 1892 in Oshkosh.
William P. Taylor was born in 1831 at Fredrickton, New Brunswick, Canada. He resided at Oshkosh, Winnebago County when he enlisted at Madison, Dane County on May 18, 1861 in Company E, 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. An unmarried joiner, William stood just over 5'6" tall with gray eyes, brown hair and a florid complexion. He was assigned as a fifer in the above company and was taken prisoner in the first battle at Bull Run, Virginia. He served in the office of the Wisconsin Soldier's Aid Society in Washington for the rest of his enlistment. William was mustered out on June 28, 1864 at the end of his term of enlistment. During the great Oshkosh fire on July 14, 1874, while helping a widow remove a heavy chest from a second floor apartment before the flames reached there, he suddenly dropped the chest and sat down in great pain. He was eventually taken back to his room at the Adams House by a doctor, where he died that same evening. Although single, William left a great legacy in this area. He was generous to a fault and helped anyone who truly needed it whenever he could. As a large testament to his friendship, mourners numbering in the thousands attended the solemn procession. The citizens of Oshkosh provided a monument for his grave in Oshkosh at Riverside Cemetery, Block 11. His grave was decorated by the local GAR post in May 1882. |
| Category |
8: Communication Artifact |
| Classification |
Archives |
| Collection |
Civil War Small Collections |
| Dates of Accumulation |
August 16, 1863 |
| Abstract |
Letter and envelope addressed to Jane S. Taplin from William P. Taylor Co. E, 2nd Wis Inf..
Washington D.C..
August 16th, 1863
Mrs. J. S. Taplin
I am that forgetful that I cannot decide whether or not I replied to your letter which contained the mis-sent one of Higer's. I am inclined to think I did not however, and when if I did I take pleasure in penning a few more lines to you. I have been very busy for the last six weeks and have had many letters to reply to from all parts of the state and elsewhere. I lost the letter written by Hilger to Mr. Selleck and forget in which hospital he was or is. I will be obliged to keep the letter until he again writes us. I received another one of your papers and although everything in it don't meet my views exactly there is much that interests and is instructive and I thank your kindness in thinking of me so often. I would like to hear from you very often. My correspondents in Oshkosh are not very punctual and I am without a word of news from "home" for weeks. I am going to Gettysburg some time through the coming week and may find some things of interest there to enable me to finish a letter to you. Here at present is very dull indeed. The weather is the hottest of the season. All are writing under the pressure. Many lives have been lost by sun stroke. Many horses drop daily in their harness in the street cars. The thermometer has stood at 90o to 100o in the shade, for the last four weeks. Mosquitoes eat us up, flies torment us, and with the close and sultry nights, sleep is a stranger to us almost. Who would live in the "City of Dust" that could help himself. Not I.
Conscript Convelescents from the many hospitals and deserters and stragglers are being sent to the front daily, reenforcing Mead to the number of a thousand daily. The Army of the Potomac is "baking in the sun" on the northern bank of the Rappahannock. Their only shelter in most cases their little "shelter tents", thin as gauze, through which the sun beats as though a piece of mosquito nettting. And their bed is made by grabbing out rocks and roots and finding a soft spot at least as smooth as McAdamized road. I speak principly of "our boys". I think I never mentioned the fact that Dr. Green, the surgeon who talked with Osman, had resigned the service almost imediatley after the Antietam Battle.
The rebels as well as our Army have trodden the ground near where poor Osman "lies sleeping" and perhaps have laid waist everything in that vicintity. But, I trust, sparing the marks of identity to the graves of our fallen. I will do my utmost this summer to visit that spot again, and find if the graves are all as they were left or not.
I saw Mr. Raymond this morning and had a talk aboutthose we left behind and wished we were there, out of this almost intolerable heat.
Please remember me to all friends. And write me please whenever you can find it convenient to do so, and believe me
Truly your friend,
Wm. P. Taylor |
| Event |
Civil War |
| Legal Status |
Oshkosh Public Museum |
| Notes |
TAPLIN, Osman B. - Pvt., Company E, 2nd Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
Osman was born circa 1840 at Vermont. He resided at Oshkosh, Winnebago County when he enlisted there on Apr. 21, 1861. An unmarried lumberman, he stood over 5'8" tall with blue eyes, brown hair and a florid complexion. He was assigned as above and was wounded severely in the side at Antietam, Maryland on Sept. 17, 1862. Osman died of his wounds on Sept. 24, 1862.
DAVIDS, John B. - Sgt., Company E, 2nd Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
John was born circa 1841 at Illinois. He was a son of Alexander from a previous sketch and a brother of William from a following sketch. John was a single farmer residing at Oshkosh, Winnebago County when he enlisted there on Apr. 21, 1861. Standing just over 6' tall, he had gray eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion. He was assigned as above and was promoted to Corporal and then Sergeant in that company on Dec. 16, 1862. John was taken prisoner at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1863. He was mustered out on Feb. 2, 1865 at Madison, Dane County, Wis-consin. John was listed in the 1899 article by Col. Harshaw as residing at Portland, Oregon.
TAYLOR, William P. - Pvt., Company E, 2nd Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
William was born in 1831 at Fredrickton, New Brunswick, Canada. He resided at Oshkosh, Winnebago County when he enlisted at Madison, Dane County on May 18, 1861. An unmarried joiner, William stood just over 5'6" tall with gray eyes, brown hair and a florid complexion. He was assigned as a fifer in the above company and was taken prisoner in the first battle at Bull Run, Virginia. He served in the office of the Wisconsin Soldier's Aid Society in Washington for the rest of his enlistment. William was mustered out on June 28, 1864 at the end of his term of enlistment. During the great Oshkosh fire on July 14, 1874, while helping a widow remove a heavy chest from a second floor apartment before the flames reached there, he suddenly dropped the chest and sat down in great pain. He was eventually taken back to his room at the Adams House by a doctor, where he died that same evening. Although single, William left a great legacy in this area. He was generous to a fault and helped anyone who truly needed it whenever he could. As a large testament to his friendship, mourners numbering in the thousands attended the solemn procession. The citizens of Oshkosh provided a monument for his grave in Oshkosh at Riverside Cemetery, Block 11. His grave was decorated by the local GAR post in May 1882.
|
| Object ID |
SC411.5.17.9 |
| Object Name |
Letter |
| People |
Taplin, Osman B.
Taylor, William P.
Taplin, Jane S. |
| Subjects |
Civil War
2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
Iron Brigade
Battlefields
Death
Casualties
Military hospitals
Wisconsin Soldiers' Aid Society
Religion |
| Title |
Letter from William P. Taylor to Osman Taplin's mother. |
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